"Our Story"

So I thought it would be appropriate to let everyone know "our story". Its a compilation of both of our stories really. :) I have had a lot of requests regarding all the details..so here we go :)

It was August 31st, the Sunday before school started when we first met at our first ward prayer, cute I know. Ward prayer however wasn't the first time I spotted him. The first thing I remember was that he was a dang good Sunday School teacher who seemed so genuine and spiritual. I couldn't imagine having to teach a lesson the very first Sunday with a brand new ward. There had to be something special about this guy. I never talked to Brian during church but then again, a lot was going through my mind. "Does my hair look okay?" "I better take a good picture for this ward directory." "Any good prospects?" Lets just say it was a jumbled Sunday. Looking back though, I can only remember one guy out of all the guys I looked at that day... and I was soon to find out that his name was Brian.

Nicole and I came home and were instantly busy with setting up our new little apartment. I remember my mom and Uncle Kirt were in town to help Nicole and I spruce up the little place. My mom of course asked all about church, but I didn't really have much to report (like I said, it was a jumbled Sunday). We got busy with hanging drapes, putting up shelves, hooks and hauling in my TV. Needless to say, my mind was pretty occupied. 9:00 rolled around and Nicole and I, after hours of organizing, decorating and constant rearranging, were reminded of our ward prayer that night. Well we were both looking forward to meeting some more new faces, so off we went to the Raintree Clubhouse.

The gathering was great. There was a really good showing of all the people in our new ward family. I got excited and a bit antsy to get around and meet everyone. They were all so social and inviting. I felt welcomed immediately and was all smiles. I remember being excited by the fact that was now mostly full of returned missionaries (not because I was looking to get hitched, but because I felt it gave our ward more demention, more personality). After the closing remarks and the prayer was said, we were all told to go around and get to know at least 5 new people, so we did. I remember meeting exactly 5 people, with Brian being my number 5.

We talked for quite awhile, mainly over the basics: "whats your name?" "Where are you from?" "Whats your major?" like I said, the basics. Well as we were walking home I remember Brian inviting Nicole and I to a movie night in the apartment two stories above us. Now remember Nicole and I were anxious to meet new people, so of course we said yes. Once I found that Mom and Kirt had left for the night, Nicole and I headed upstairs where we played a game of spoons and watched The Sound of Music (what a great first flick, right?). One thing that stuck out in my mind about Bri was his unique laugh. Seriously, its so contagious. I remember catching him looking at me at various times that evening, but just brushed it off. I wasn't that kind of girl who instantly lets herself think a guy is interested, plus I wasn't looking for anyone at the moment. I just wanted to be that social girl who everyone thinks is fun. Well I guess love finds you when you are least expecting it, right?

Bri happened to get my number that night and he didn't fail to call me that very next day to ask if Nicole and I wanted to hang out. He wanted to go watch a movie with a bunch of friends, but I was busy with school and work. He obviously didn't take it to hard, because sure enough the next day he asked Nicole and I to come join him and some friends out in the hot tub. At this time I wasn't sure if he just wanted to be friends or if he wanted anything more, like I said I didn't want to jump the gun, so I probably didn't read his signs as clearly as most would. Well, I decided to to hot tubbing, it couldn't hurt...right? Come to find out he was already in the hot tub when he called. I thought we were meeting each other there in a couple of minutes...lets just say we had bad communication. He came over to my apartment wanting to know what the deal was, and to be honest I was kind of bummed that he had gone without us. He decided to make it up to Nicole and I by making dinner. He made enchiladas for us which were...lets just say, interesting. (They were good don't get me wrong, they just weren't up to par with my dear Jilian's).

He asked me on our first date a few days later. We went to Kung Fu Panda to make up for last time, and also because Brian thought the movie was a hit. Neither of us can remember what we did after the movie...ice cream maybe? I really don't know. I just remember coming back to my place and him trying to hold my hand as mine slipped past his. It took me by surprise, like I said...I wasn't really looking for anything. It was at that moment that I knew this guy had to like me.

We hung out quite a bit after that first date. He is quite that planner and always had something for us to do. He was ready to exclusively date within a couple of weeks, but I on the other hand was a bit hesitant. I knew the next step Brian wanted to make in life, and I didn't want to get myself into that situation until I knew that was a possibility for me. So I took things slow. He hated it.

Being great friends and in attempts to get to know each other better, we started taking drives together and enjoy each others company a bit more. Well one Sunday as we were driving around, we came across this particular spot. Its a place of solitude, a place of peace, its now our place. A few months ago we were up there having a great talk, one of the best we have ever had. It was at this moment that I knew that I loved this guy, I truly and honestly loved him. As we basked in converstation Brian decided to play a certain song. As he played it, he looked at me, told me how he felt and that this particular song expressed his feelings towards me perfectly. He stepped out of his car, came around and opened my door and asked me if I wanted to dance. We danced overlooking Provo, to what we now call our song. It was during this moment that it hit me that I was starting to have feelings for this guy. It hit me so hard, it was incredible. Shortly after that we started dating and it has been great ever since. I am so incredibly happy.

Ever since Brian and I officially started dating, we have subtly mentioned the idea of marriage. I guess I just wanted to see where his heart was in all of this. Sure enough, marriage is exactly the next step he was looking for. To make things short, we decided a couple months later that that was what we both wanted. We decided to go ring shopping, and after many attempts I found my perfect ring. It was gorgeous and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was obsessed. I loved the idea of it on my finger as a symbol to the world that I was taken. I would soon be the Mrs. Brian Matthew Fisher (how exciting!). We kept our little secret on the down-low, besides a few close friends. We didn't want to ruin the excitement of telling everyone once it was official. I was constantly nagging Brian about when he would pop the question. I wanted it to be a surprise, but man was I impatient! I wanted to stop keeping it a secret and just announce it to everyone. Yes, I was pretty impatient and possibly a bit annoying.

It was a Monday night and Brian had work until nine. I was at home watching TV with my roommates when he came to pick me up. He insisted that we go out to dinner that night. He wanted to go to P.F Changs, my favorite. We had a great meal. We ordered our two favorite dishes, and Brian seemed to be glowing. Afterwards as we were driving home, he passed our turn, looked at me smiling and told me that we were going to "our spot". It was at this moment that I became a bit suspicious.

Well we made it up the mountain, and as we were parking another car decides to join us. Obviously this place wasn't so secret. We decided to just lay back, talk and enjoy the lights. Brian however was getting a bit figity, which was my second sign. To our luck, another car pulled up which just got Brian all riled up. It was quite hilarious. We continued to sit and talk and I noticed that we were quietly listening to the CD that I made him for Valentine's Day. As our song came on he once again asked me to dance. To our surprise both cars had left by this time and so we both got out to enjoy reliving that moment we had a couple of months earlier.

He then wanted to take a picture, and at that time I knew the question was coming. Right when Brian tried to set up his camera the wind picked up and knocked it over (poor guy). He was getting frustrated which I thought was adorable. He was nervous too, which is something you dont see very often from Brian. I was soaking up every minute trying desperately to shove every detail, every smell and every sound into my mind. After a few minutes of being frustrated with the wind he finally gave up and just got down on one knee. I screamed. I was finally engaged and was the happiest woman in the world.

Although it wasn't the most ideal circumstances, it was a perfect moment for me. I have been estatic ever since that night and haven't been able to take my eye off this ring of mine. Brian is my true sweetheart and I feel so blessed to have finally found him. He knows me so well and Im so excited to spend the rest of my life with him. The date is set for July 10th in the Portland, Oregon temple. Im so excited!! I look back on this story of ours and in all honesty I can't believe that I finally have a story to tell.

Only 115 more days.

* * * * * *

I first laid eyes on Ariel at church the first Sunday of the Fall semester. I was teaching the Gospel Doctrine class to the entire ward and introduced myself saying I was from Arizona. I remember her roommate Nicole, who was sitting next to her, got excited because she is from Gilbert. That excitement definitely drew my attention towards that area. Ariel probably hated it, because she always hates it when I bring attention towards her in public. Oh well. Thanks to Nicole, Ariel got my attention. I thought she was a beautiful girl and that I’d have to introduce myself after class. Unfortunately I didn’t get that opportunity that morning, and honestly I kind of forgot about her for the rest of the day.

Later that night we had our first ward prayer, and I remember seeing her again. After the formal part of ward prayer was over, I was talking to a bunch of different people, while slowly making my way around the room. I then bumped into this girl that had caught my eye during my Sunday School lesson, and I got just a little nervous. I normally don’t get nervous meeting girls, but for some reason I was at this time. I tired to mask it and just act normal, hopefully it worked. I asked her name and found out it was Ariel. I talked to her and noticed that she had a slight Southern accent, not too profound but just enough to notice. So I was surprised to find out that she was from Washington. She then explained that she also lived in Georgia for a while during high school. With me being an older brother, I always find an opportunity to tease, and so I began teasing her about her cute southern drawl. We walked out together from ward prayer and went over to her apartment and just talked for awhile. I then invited her and Nicole to go upstairs to another apartment to play games with a bunch of people. They agreed. I kept stealing glances at her as we played spoons and really liked what I saw, both on the outside and inside. I remember meeting a lot of girls that night but Ariel’s face and just the way that we were able to talk so easily, stood out to me. I knew that I was going to have to spend some more time with this girl.

So a couple of days later a group of people were going to see “Kung Fu Panda” and I figured this would be the perfect chance to show her I was interested, so I invited her to come along. However, she declined my invitation and said something about being busy. I believed her and didn’t take it too hard. The next day I was out at the hot tub with a couple of my buddies and definitely felt the need for some female presence, so I called Ariel up and invited her to come out. She said she’d be there in 10 minutes. Well 20 minutes went by and I was feeling like I got ditched. But being a very persistent person, I went over to her apartment and saw that her and Nicole were just getting ready to come out. She says she thought we would just be meeting there, but I think she was actually getting all prettied up for me, or so I hoped :). The moral of the story is, we didn’t end up going to that hot tub together, but we did spend the rest of that evening together. I cooked her and Nicole enchiladas (which I have recently found out they didn’t really like even though they said they did). Nicole had to leave a bit early to go talk to her dad, so once she did, Ariel and I just talked the rest of the night away. The next day we went on our official first date to go see “Kung Fu Panda”, since Ariel missed it the first time, plus I thought the movie was hilarious! To this day I can’t remember if we went for ice cream or did anything after the movie, but all I know is that I had a great time laughing and joking with her and that I really enjoyed her company.

From then on I knew that I wanted to get to know this girl, and eventually I fell in love with her. I knew that this was the girl of my dreams that I wanted to marry. We had talked about getting married starting in December and had kind of made a lot of “what if” plans. Eventually we went ring shopping which yielded the ring of Ariel’s dreams and I was so excited to buy it and give it to her. I had a plan for a couple of weeks before buying the ring on how I was going to ask her to marry me. It was funny however to see Ariel get impatient about getting the ring, always looking at her left hand, and sighing for dramatic effect.

I got the ring on a Saturday afternoon but had to work that night. By some stroke of luck go off early and really wanted to give her the ring that night because I knew how much she wanted to be officially engaged, and not just “engaged to be engaged.” I called her up and asked her if she was hungry and wanted to go to PF Chang’s (which she usually is more than ok with on a Saturday night after I get off work). But this one time she had already eaten and wasn’t hungry. No matter how much I tried to talk her into going out to eat there (it was part of the plan) I couldn’t convince her. So I just went over to her apartment. We got to talking and Ariel seemed to be a bit frustrated that we weren’t official yet. She was wondering if I was ever going buy the ring and ask her to marry me. She got pretty emotional. I just wanted to go over to my apartment, grab the ring and just say “MARRY ME!!!” But I restrained myself and just took the heat :)

That next Monday night I had to work until around 8, but knew I was going to ask her that night. Once again, I don’t get nervous that often but I was SO nervous that whole night at work. I made it through my shift and then went home and got ready for the night. I took Ariel out to dinner at her favorite restaurant, PF Chang’s and we got our two classic dishes. After dinner I made what I thought was an innocent suggestion to go up to this spot on the side of the mountains where we had first talked about dating and had really fallen in love at. I parked the car and we were just sitting there enjoying the view of Provo at night, listening to a CD that Ariel had made for me for Valentine’s Day and were just talking. I was planning on having our song, “My Best Friend” by Tim McGraw come on and we were going to dance to it outside of the car overlooking the beautiful city lights. However right before the song was supposed to come on, another car pulled up. My heart dropped in my chest and I thought, “this cannot be happening..” They were ruining my plans. But I comforted myself and thanked my lucky stars that we live in a modern world with such things as rewind buttons. As soon as I was getting ready to just settle in and wait for this car to leave, another car showed up. I guess I overreacted on this one because Ariel seemed like she knew something was up. The second car finally left and I just wanted to go forward with my plans and dance even with the first car still there. Ariel however wasn’t too fond of the idea. I guess the good Lord finally heard my prayers because the car finally left and we were alone again. I wasn’t about to sit and wait there any longer for another car to come around, so I rewound the CD to another good song, “Making Memories of Us” by Keith Urban and we danced outside of the car together. I knew for sure at this time that this was the girl I wanted to spend eternity with. She was amazing and I wanted to make her mine.

After the song was over I wanted to get a “picture” of us with the city in the background (aka I was going to have it on video mode instead so that we could have a video of me proposing to Ariel). However it was all of a sudden windy outside, making my camera fall over. Around this time Ariel was getting impatient and just wanted to go inside the car and warm up and get out of the wind. I just thought, “forget the camera, its now or never.” So I got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife. She screamed at the top of her lungs and of course said yes. I was the happiest man at that moment, I was going to be getting married to the woman of my dreams! I never thought on that fateful Sunday that I was meeting my eternal companion, but the more and more time I spent with her I realized that she was the one, and that I’d do anything to have her.

The date is set for July 10th, and I can't wait.

The countdown has offically started..